10-3-2023
Chef Andrew Black–a 2023 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Southwest, and a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Chef–is a chef, restaurateur, and entrepreneur in Oklahoma City. Born in Jamaica to an Indo-Jamaican family, where chapati was cooked on a handmade clay oven over an open fire; Chef Black was often tasked with building outdoor clay ovens for his grandmother as a child. From working his way through the island’s resort kitchens, to staging his way through fine dining restaurants in Europe as a young adult with the support of the Jamaican government, to finally finding himself as a business leader and tastemaker in Oklahoma City with the inimitable fine dining venture Grey Sweater, trend-setting Black Walnut, and chic patisserie Gilded Acorn. He is author of the cookbook Foraging in Oklahoma: Tales and Recipes from the Open Road, as told to The Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer. Chef Black is a winner of the 2023 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest, and was named semifinalist for the 2022 JBA for Outstanding Chef. His work has been featured by The Wall Street Journal, Wine Enthusiast magazine (50 Best Restaurants 2022), Zagat Stories, and Thrillist. Chef Black is executive chef/owner of Grey Sweater and Black Walnut, and co-founder of restaurant group Culinary Edge Concepts. Chef Black has proudly partnered with Dorasti Premium Caviar to present his brand Grey Sweater Caviar, as featured in The Wall Street Journal. He adopted Oklahoma City fifteen years ago as his permanent home and he lives there today.
Chair of the Day
Anthony McDermid
Owner/Founding Principal, TAP
Anthony McDermid, AIA, ARB, RIBA
Anthony was born, raised and educated in the UK and was on his post-grad hitchhiking tour of the world when he overnighted in Oklahoma City. He never left.
Anthony and his business partner, John Ward, founded TAP (The Architectural Partnership) in a largely vacant downtown Oklahoma City in 1988 and next month will celebrate TAP’s 35th Birthday. Anthony has design credentials for over one thousand projects in Oklahoma, across the nation and several continents. Many of his projects have received design awards from inside and outside the profession. He has had the good fortune to affect the urban landscape in Oklahoma City with visionary urban planning and designs which helped reinvent the OKC metro. Today you see the influence from his work 25 years ago on the I-40 realignment and subsequent Core to Shore master plan that contemplated and located Scissortail Park, the new Convention Center and the Omni hotel. Within the Core to Shore plan, TAP also designed the multi-award winning Convention Center Parking Garage.
Over the past 40 years Anthony has served on many professional and non-profit boards. His service includes leadership roles as Chair or President of City Rescue Mission, deadCenter, Automobile Alley and Oklahoma American Institute of Architects. He is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City, Leadership Oklahoma and a member of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, South Oklahoma City Chamber and Rotary Club of Oklahoma City.
Anthony is married to Aubrey. Between them they have four adult children and two precious companions who live in their downtown OKC home, namely Oliver the dog and Josie the cat.